Re-enforce for spikes



' (No Mbdel.)

m S. A. MOLEAN.

RE-ENFORGE FOR SPIKES.

Patented J me 14, 1887.

Inventor UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

SETH A. MOLEAN, OF BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.-

RE-ENFORCE FOR SPIKES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,766, dated June 14, 1887.

Application filed March 11, 1887. Serial No. 230,502. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETH A. MOLE-AN, of Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Spike Re-enforce; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

As is well known to those familiar with the use of spikes, especially for railroad purposes, where the spikes are'often subjected (at the roadcurves) to sudden and severe lateral thrusts, which tend to loosen them in the ties into which they may have been driven, it has long been sought to render this instrument or article capable of withstanding the greatest possible lateral strain or thrust without so compressing endwise the grain and upsetting the fiber of the'wood into which the spike may have been forced as to impair the firm hold which the spike may have had when originally driven securely home into the tie or other timber; and various devices in the wayof re-enforces have heretofore been employed for the purpose-of staying the driven spike,

in order to give it, if possible, a greater capacity to withstand such lateral pressure or thrust withoutso displacing thestock in which it may have been seated as to loose its firm hold thereon,and consequently its efficiency as a means for securely retaining the rail, the chair, or other device designed to be thereby held in place. Such devices have, so far as my knowledge of them extends, been made either in the form of winglike lateral projections formed integrally with the spike,and located at the vicinityof the back side of its upper body portion, orin the form of supplemental spike-like pieces of metal or metallic wedges, about equalin width tothe width of the spike, adapted to be driven iii-separately from the spike, but in contact with its back side. I

It has long been a commonly-practiced expedient to stay or tighten up railroadspikes loosened by lateral strains or thrusts by driving in back of them additional spikes; but such expedient affords only the most temporary advantage, and fails to prevent the displacement and loosening of the spike designed to fasten down the rail or chair, mainly for the same reason that all the other supple mental re-enforces heretofore used (that I know of have failed to render any material advantage-viz., because all such staying devices are as readily forced laterally into the wood as the spike itself. In the use of wings formed out of the stock of the spike and projecting laterally at its back side, so as to give greater breadth to the rear surface of the spike-body, and consequently a larger area to the surface acting compressively on the wood, a somewhat better effect may have been gained than by the use of re-enforcing spikes and wedges such as heretofore used; but such wing-like devices having been formed out of and by upsetting the stock composing the upper and main part of the s'pikes body, the formation of the spike with such devices has weakened it and has otherwise impaired its efficiency.

I propose by my invention to provide for use a simple and very efficient means for reenforcing the ordinary spike laterally that will greatly increase its capacity to withstand sudden and severe'lateral pressure or thrust without injurious compression of the wood in which the spike may be seated, andthat can be employed with great convenience when the spike may be inserted, and will not interfere with the easy extraction of the spike whenever it may be necessary to withdraw it.

To this main end and object my invention consists, primarily, in the use, in combination or in connection with a spike of any ap proved or desirable construction, of a thin or plate-like re-enforce of a width materially greater than that of the spike, suitably shaped to be easily driven into the wood close against the back of the spike, and adapted to bear forcibly against the back side of the spikes body, and to also act compressively against a much larger surface of the wood than it is possible for a spike to act upon, thus successfully resisting (after it shall have been driven home) any tendency to any such further embedment laterally v in the wood as might permit the slightest loosening of the spike, while at the same time, by reason of the solidity of its material, holding the spike rigidly up to its work, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be more specifically defined in the claims of this specification. I

A secondary feature of my invention con- IOOv sists in the construction of a spike re-enforce with a head-like lateral projection at its top, adapted to overlap or overlie the head of the spike in such manner thatawithdrawal of the driven spike in the usual manner necessitates the lifting or extrication simultaneously of the re-enforcing device, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be more specifically defined in the claims of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to understand and practice the same, I will now proceed to more fully describe it, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which I have shown my invention carried out in that form in which I have so far successfully practiced it.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved re-enforce device for spikes made in the form I prefer, though its shape may be somewhat varied, of course, without changing materiallyits mode of operation, and hence without departing from the principle of my invention. vertical central section an ordinary railroadspike driven into a timber, (or railroad-tie,) and having combined with it the metallic reenforce shown at Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail cross-sectional view (or horizontal section through the spike, reenforce, and timber) taken at a plane indicated by the line 00 at Fig. 2.

111 the several figures the same part will be found designated by the same reference-letter.

A is an ordinary railroad-spike. B represents part of a timber or tie into which the spike has been driven, and O is a metallic plate like re-enforce or compacting spikestay, which, as shown, is of a width considerably greater than that of the spike A, and which is so driven immediately in rear of the spike Aas to force and hold the spike securely up to its work of fastening in place, both laterally (by the front side of its body) and vertically (by itshead a) the rail-flange, chair, or other device to be spiked down to the timber B.

The re-enforce G is preferably made, as shown, of a width about three times that of the spike A for use in timber of the density usual in railroad-ties, and of athickness sufficient only to give it the requisite degree of rigidity for driving and efliciency as a solid support or backing to the spike; but either the thickness or the width, or both, may be varied more or less within the judgment of the maker, and according to the circumstances under which it may be proposed to use my invention.

For instance, in the case of the use of the device 0 to stay a spike inserted in a timber of comparatively soft wood, or to be subjected to unusually sudden or severe lateral thrust, (or under both of these conditions,) the said device 0 should be made of much greater width than when designed for use in harder wood,

Fig. 2 shows in or where the spike would not be subjected to such great lateral strain.

I prefer to shape the point and lowermost part of the device 0 in the manner shown, so that when driven in rear of the spikeAit will draw toward the spike, and thus come to a perfect and forcible bearing against it. This will force the face side of the spike home against the wood, and also force and hold the upper portion of the face side of the spike forcibly up against the rail-flange or other article to be fastened to the timber B.

The contour of the re-cnforce O, I prefer to make about such as shown, though no precise form is essential so long as the shape be such as to give the device the capacity to easily enter the wood widthwise and to practically cut or sharply break the grain or fiber of the timber in order to get the most solid bearing practicable against the wood (endwise of its grain or fibers) at the back side of the re-enforce. To this end I have preferably shaped the device 0, as seen at Fig. 3, so that its edges will be comparatively sharp. The extreme length of the device 0 should be such, comparatively, with that of the spike, as to render it capable of backing and re-enforcing the latter well down toward its point, as shown.

The onesided head 0 of the device Cis prefcrably made by bending over, at right angles to the body, an extension of the latter, that is of a width about equal to that of the spike.

Inthc use of the re-cnforee it is driven home in rear of the spike after the latter shall have been inserted in the timber, and it operates, by forcible contact with the back side of the spike and with a comparatively large surface of the wood in rear of itself, to

- force and hold forward to its work the spike, and to compact a large area of the wood in rear of itself, and enable the wood to thus present such an immovable barrier to any further backward movement of itself as to effectuate the retention in place of the spike against the severest lateral thrusts to which it may be subjected.

By making the device 0 with a head or lateral projection at c, as shown, the drawing or extraction of a spike having combined with it the re-cnforce necessitates the sinmltaneous removal of the reenforce 0.

Having now so fully explained the nature of my invention that those skilled in the art can make and use my novel spike. re-enforcc, either in the precise form shown or under such modifications as the circumstances under which the invention is to be used may render expedient, and wishing it to be understood that the construction of the device 0 with a head, a, or so as to be engaged by the head of the spike during the withdrawal of the latter is not at all essential to the first and moreimportant part of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to broadly secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A re-enforce device for use in connection with railroadand other spikes, made comparatively thin and of a width considerably greater than that of the spike designed to be backed up by it, and pointed so as to properly drive into timber crosswise of the grain of the latter, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

- 2. The combination, with a driven spike, of a re-enforce or back-stay device, composed of a comparatively thin piece of metal,but much broader than the spike, and suitably sharpened to drive into the timber in which the spike may be driven, the combination being and operating substantial] y as hereinbefore set forth.

3. Aspikc re-enforce composed of a plate- 1 like piece of metal broader than the spike, sharpened at its lower end and formed or provided at its upper end with a lateral projection or head adapted to overlie the head of the spike, in connection with which said i'e-en- 20 force may be used, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of February, 1887. r

, S. A. MOLEAN.

In presence of- F. P. B. GRAVES, C. L. OoLLINs. 

